A seven-day express visa program for Turkish citizens wishing to visit a handful of eastern Aegean islands will be expanded to another five isles as of Tuesday, with Leros, Limnos, Kalymnos, Kastellorizo and Symi added to the list.
The new destinations are added to the larger islands of Chios (Hios), Kos, Lesvos (Lesbos), Rhodes and Samos.
Under the process, Turkish citizens apply in person before departure or upon arrival to any of the aforementioned and are granted the seven-day visa almost instantaneously. Applicants need to only provide certain information to their travel agency before arrival to the Greek isle. The past requirement of visiting the nearest Greek consulate to apply for a holiday visa has thereby been scrapped, with the new process receiving EU Commission approval earlier this year.
The cost of the seven-day visa is 60 euros and can be issued all-year round.
This specific type of express visa is for arrival by ferry boat, and does not apply to air travel or arrival by cruise ship, and cannot be used to travel to a third country destination from Greece.
Athens unveiled an initiative last December to allow Turkish citizens and their dependents to apply for the visa after arriving on the specific island destinations.
The 10 islands specified for the express visa regime lie west of the western Asia Minor shores in the eastern Aegean Sea.
The ministry of migration policy had worked out the framework for the agreement, while approval was gained from the European Commission.
The agreement marked a milestone, as Greece became the first Schengen Pact member-state to grant Turkish citizens this type of visa.
